Machine for packing articles into containers



March 13, 1956 R. w. BARRACLOUGH MACHINE FOR PACKING ARTICLES INTO CONTAINERS Filed April 23, 1952 6 Sheets-Sheet l FIG. 2.

3M R (mu 6-H y Attorney March 13, 1956 R. w. BARRACLOUGH 2,738,116

MACHINE FOR PACKING ARTICLES INTO CONTAINERS Filed April 23, 1952 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 lgil-159 Ill I 5 no.3, :T

, Attomey March 13, 1956 R. w. BARRACLOUVQH 2,738,116

MACHINE FOR PACKING ARTICLES INTO CONTAINERS Filed April 25, 1952 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 mo w- ON vw-2252 Attorney M81111! 1956 R. w. BARRACLOUGH 2, 38,116

MACHINE FOR PACKING ARTICLES INTO CONTAINERS Filed April 23, 1952 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG. 5.

Run In it- Imm'tor BAR/8,4. uausu Attorney March 13, 1956 R, w, BARRACLQUGH 2,738,116

MACHINE FOR PACKING ARTICLES INTO CONTAINERS Filed April 23, 1952 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 v 132 FIG. 9.

Inventor Ku-IJ 1411/... By JMM [L DUbH March 13, 1956 R. w. BARRACLOUGH MACHINE FOR PACKING ARTICLES INTO CONTAINERS Filed April 25, 1952 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 Inventor Rnunlnl Hill/am jut/2 Adana-H Attorney Tam United States Patent O MACHINE FOR PACKING ARTICLES INTO CONTAINERS Ronald William Barraclough, Southport, England, as-

signor of one-half to R. W. Barraclough Limited, South port, England, a British company Application April 23, 1952, Serial No. 283,898 Claims priority, application Great Britain April 28, 1951 17 Claims. (Cl. 226-16) The present invention relates to machines for packing articles into containers and is more particularly concerned with the packing of articles in the shape of parallelepipeds into a similarly shaped container or box.

Up to the present time this packing has been done by hand and while the packers can attain a high speed of working, the provision of a machine with one operator would result in a considerable saving of manpower.

The main object of the invention is to provide a machine which performs this operation at high speed and in which the only action necessary by the operator is the placing in position of the container or box and a resetting operation by depression of a foot-operated lever.

According to one feature of the invention, arrangements are provided whereby the individual articles are built up into a block having substantially the dimensions of the interior of the container and are then transferred bodily into the container.

According to another feature of the invention, the machine comprises means for feeding the articles to the machine, means for arranging said articles in a plurality of rows on a platform to form a layer, means for transferring said layer bodily to a stacking or storage device arranged to accommodate a plurality of layers to form a block and means for transferring said block bodily to said container.

The invention will be better understood from the following description of one embodimenttaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings comprising Figs. 1'

to 10. I

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 shows diagrammatically the method by which the articles are packed into boxes,

Fig. 2 shows a simplified plan view of the machine,

Fig. 3 shows a side elevation of the machine looking in the direction of the arrow A in Fig. 2. I i

Fig. 4 shows a side elevation with the side wall removed looking in the direction of the arrow B in Fig. 2,

Fig. 5 shows an end elevation looking in the direction of the arrow C in Fig. 2,

Fig. 6 shows an end elevation looking in the direction of the arrow D in Fig. 2,

Fig. 7 shows a detailed partial view of the fixed and sliding platforms,

Fig. 8 shows the motion-summation mechanism,

Fig. 9 shows the electrical circuit of the driving motor, and

Fig. 10 shows the driving arrangement for the feed conveyor.

Referring first to Fig. 1, the articles 10 are fed to the machine by a conveyor moving in the direction of the arrow. When a predetermined number of articles, two as shown in Fig. 1, forming a row 11 have been fed on to the machine, a ram operates to advance the articles along a platformon the machine in the direction of the arrow, this movement being at right angles to thermovemeat of the conveyor. When a predetermined number of rows of articles, three as shown at 12 in Fig. l, have been advanced along the platform, a driving arrangement becomes effective to movethe three rows of articles bodily in the direction of the arrow on to a stacking orstoring device comprising a sinking platform. When this movement is completed, the sinking platform is=lowered one step to enable the next set of three rows to be positioned above the first set.

sinking platform, a ram comes into operation and transfers the block of articles, comprising the six sets, bodily into the container or box 14. This transfer action causes the box to be tipped with the openend upwards on to a conveyor. The operator then places another box in position on the machine and resets the supporting mechanism for the box. This action is the only one which It will thus be seen that the principle of operation of the machine is to build up the individual articles into a block having substantially the dimensions of the interior of the container or box and then to transferthe block of articles bodily into the box.

I ;the use of a. box of one particular size.

It will be understood that the machine is not limited in operation to formation of blocks having the exact number of articles shown in Fig. 1, nor is it limited to The machine includes adjusting means which will be described in detail later for accommodating different numbers of articles and different sizes of boxes.

Referringnow to Fig. 2, this shows a plan view of the essential parts of the machine. The conveyor for the articles 10 is shown at 20 and this conveyor passesthe articles in a transverse .direction on to the machine.

When the-first article reaches the rernote'side of the machine, a device 21 operates due to the engagement ,therewith of the first article of the row. The effect of the operation of the device 21 is to cause the ram 22 to operate in the direction of the arrow to move the articles in a longitudinal direction along a fixed platform 23.

When three rows of articles have been advanced along the platform 23, driving means, not shown in Fig. 2, become effective to transfer the set of articles from the fixed platform to a sliding platform located beneath the fixed platform. The articles are carried by the sliding form is now withdrawn but the articles are preventedf'rorn' moving with the sliding platform and consequently the whole set is deposited on the sinking platform. This is now lowered'to the extent of the height of one article and the process is repeated until a block of articles comprising a predetermined number of sets ispositioned on the sinking platform. A second ram comprising a plurality of vertically-arranged slats moving between the slats of the plaform, then transfers the block to the box or container which is carried away by the conveyor.

The machine is driven from a constantly operating prime mover, preferably an electric motor and the various individual operations of the machine are effected in their proper sequence by different tripping mechanisms. In the embodiment shown the tripping devices are me chanical ,in their operation and each controls a clutch which lifts a locking bolt out of engagement with a clutch key to couple a shaft to the prime mover for one revolution of the shaft. It will, however, be understood that electrical switches controlling solenoids could be used in place of the mechanical-tripping devices, the operation of the solenoids controlling a one-revolution clutch. The operation of these one-revolution clutches is well-known and will not be described in detail and further the means Patented Mar. 13, 1956 When a predetermined number of sets 13, six as shown in Fig. 1, have been stored on the is per-. formed by an operator. I 7

3 for operating the clutcheswill only. be indicated diagram matically.

The ram 22 as shown in Figs. 4 and 8 is mounted on two spindles 40"mounted in bearings 41, 42 and 43 of assembly is also shown in Fig. 6. The shaft 143 is driven from the motor 144 through the sprocket drive 145.

'Referring to Fig. 8, the ram 22 is normally held in the retracted position by means of a bolt 81 which enters aslot in the ram. When the articles fed from the conveyor engage with the plate 80-the release mechanism 21zis operated and the bolt is withdrawn. is withdrawn, the operation of the cam 142 is ineffective since the arms 48 are maintained in the position shown due to their linkage with the ram. tionof.the conveyor is adjusted so that during normal operation. the bolt will .be withdrawn at a time when the camr 1421is substantially in the position shown in the drawingso that the arms 48 in following the cam surface under spring action, will rotate in an anti-clockwise directionathus advancing the ram 22 towards the left. The first row of articles isthus moved to the second position on the platform of the machine and the ram is returned to theposition shown in the drawing.

lt-awill. be understood that the movement of the articles from ,the conveyor into engagement with the plate 80 causes movement of the latter to the left in order to clear the, ram 22 and to withdraw the bolt therefrom. As the ram advances. the articles to the second position, however pressure will be removed from the plate 80 and this Willjtend to return to its original position under spring control. This would preventthe complete return of the ram-and toavoid this the bolt and hence the plate 80 is prevented from returning to normaluntil the end of the return stroke of the. ram by the engagement of the end of the bolt with an abutment surface 286 fixed to the ram, the abutment surface being shown only in part in Fig. 8.

The cross-piece 46 isprovided witha pin 146 (Figs. 4 and 8) which extends through a slot 82 in the table 44. The movement of this pin during the movement of the cross-piece to its alternative position 46" serves to operate the, motion-summation mechanism, the purpose of which rstocause the operationof a 1 revolution clutch after a predetermined number of rows of articleshave been positioned on the platform of the machine, the tripping of the clutch causing the rows of articles to be moved bodily on to the sinking platform.

The motion-summation mechanism is best shown in F g.- 8, from which it will be seen that the pin 146 engages with a slotted member 83 securedto a quadrant 84 mounted on the spindle 85..carried between the plate 44 and an upper bearing plate 86.. The quadrant 84 carries a pawl 87 which is urged by the spring 88 to engage the teeth of a ratchet wheel 89. The pawl 87 has an extension 180 which engages with an abutment surface 181 carried by an adjustable plate 182 so that the spring 3% 1s normally ineffective. As the ram 22 is advanced as previously described, the pin 146, working in the slotted member 83, causes clockwise rotation of the quadrant 84 Which carries the pawl with it. After the quadrant has been. rotated through a predetermined angle, the extens1on 180 of the pawl rides off the end of the abutment member and the spring 88 becomes effective to urge the pawl into engagement with the teeth of the ratchet wheel. However, it Wlll be seen that no rotation of the ratchet wheel takes place during the latter part of the forward movement since the pawl will ride overthe ratchet teeth. Onthe return movemen, however, the pawl will engag with one. tooth of the ratchet wheel and the latter will Until the bolt The speed of opera-- thus be. rotated in an anticlockwise direction until the extension 180 again engages with the abutment member and the pawl is withdrawn from the ratchet wheel tooth. The ratchet wheel is then held in position by a holding pawl 285. The ratchet wheel is secured to a cam 183 which is thus rotated anticlockwise by the rotation of the ratchet wheel. The amount by which thecam is rotated depends upon the number of rows of articles which are to be moved bodily on to the sinking platform. Since in the embodiment shown, three rows are so moved, the cam is rotated through deg. for each operation of the ram 22. Towards the end of the third operation of the ram therefore, cam 183 engages the follower 184 on the arm 185 pivoted at 186 and pivotally connected to the lever 187 at 188. The arm 185 is thus rotated in a clockwise direction to draw the lever 187 to the left as shown in Fig. 8. This causes the link 189 to rotate the spindle 288 in a clockwise direction thus transmitting a movement through the linkage 289 and'281 (Figs. 3 and 8), 282 (Figs. 6 and 8) and 30 (Fig. 3) thereby operating a 1 revolution clutch 31 which clutches the sprocket wheel138-to the shaft 33. This sprocket wheel is driven from the motor 144-through shaft 143 and sprocket drive 34. The consequences of this operation will be described later.

Returning to the motion-summation mechanism 45 shown in Fig. 8, it will be understood that the extent of angular rotation of the ratchet wheel 89 on the return motion of the ram 22 may be varied by varying the position of the abutment member 181. This is readily effected by rotating the disc 182 which carries the abutment member, the disc being held in position by means of a fixed locking bolt 283 which engages in a slot 284 in the disc. The machine may thus be easily adjusted to transfor different numbers of rows of articles on to the sinking platform.

A cam 32 fixed to the shaft 33 makes one revolution on the operation of the clutch 31. is provided at one end of an arm 36, pivoted at 37, the other end of which arm is connected to a link 38 urged in a downward direction by spring 39. The link 38 is connected to a three-armed lever secured to a pillar 131 fixed to the frame of the machine. This three-armed lever is connected by means of a link 132 to a bell crank lever 133 mounted on a second pillar134. The two corresponding arms and 136 of the levers 130 and 133 are pivotallyconnected to an abutment member 137. It will thus be seentha't during the one revolution of the cam 32, the link 38 will move downwardly under the influence of the spring as the cam follower follows the valley of the cam, and'in this downward movement it rotates the three-arm lever 130, and, due to the link 132,

. the bell crank lever 133 in a clockwise direction, thus raising the abutment member 137.

Reference will now 'be made to Fig. 7 which is a view of the upper left-hand portion of the machine, partly in section and looking from the left of Fig. 4. This shows the fixed platform 23 of the machine which as shown in Fig. 2 terminates at the edge of the sinking platform 24. Beneath the fixed platform 23 is the sliding platform 70 mounted in a bearing member 71' secured to a plate 72. The plate'72 is provided with a bracket 73 which carries securing means 74, for a chain 75' (Fig. 4) which passes over' sprocket wheels 76 and 77 mounted on spindles 78 and 79 respectively. The bearing member 71 is provided with vertical and horizontal ball bearings 170, 171 respectively which run in guideways 172, 173 provided in a guide member 174 fixed to the frame 175 of the machine. The bearing member 71 also serves as a support for a mounting 176 the upper end of which carries'a bearing 177 for a shaft 178. One end of this shaft carries a depending plate 179 on which is adjustably mounted a further plate 270, the lower edge of which is separated from'the'fixedplatform 23 by a small gap. An arnf 271 is mountedo'n'the other end of the shaft 178 A cam follower 35 and carries a roller 272 which engages with the lower surface of the abutment member 137. It will be understood that with the exception of the arm 271 and the roller 272, the mounting 176 and its associated parts will be duplicated on the other side of the machine. Further the mountings 176 will be positioned at the entry end of the machine as clearly seen in Fig. 4. At the outlet end of the machine, the arm 136 of the bell crank lever 133 together with a similar arm on the other side of the machine carry between them a shaft 274 to which is fixed a depending plate 275 on which is adjustably mounted a second plate 276. The shaft 274 passes through a bracket 273 integral with the abutment member 137. The two plates 274) and 276 normally occupy the positions shown in Fig. 4. The link 38 (Fig. 3) is then in its upper position and consequently the abutment member 137 is in its lower position and the plate 276 is in its lower position, thus blocking the outlet from the fixed platform. Further the abutment member 137 acting on the roller 272 and through the arm 271 causes the shaft to take up a position where the plate 270 is substantially horizontal, thus opening the inlet to the fixed platform.

A sleeve 147 (Fig. 4) is mounted on the shaft 33 and is secured to the cam 32 so that the sleeve makes one revolution with the cam. A disc 148 (Fig. 4) is mounted on the sleeve and a connecting rod 149 has one end pivotally mounted in an offset position on the disc and the other end pivotally secured to an arm 240 mounted on a shaft 241 and carrying a toothed quadrant 242. The toothed quadrant 242 engages with a gear wheel 243 mounted'on a shaft 244 the shaft also carrying a sprocket wheel 245. The sprocket wheel 245 drives the shaft 79 through the chain 246 and sprocket wheel 247. It will thus be seen that for each revolution of the cam 32, the toothed quadrant oscillates and drives the gear wheel 243 anticlockwise and clockwise by the same amount. Thismovement of the gear wheel 243 is transmitted through the sprocket and chain drive to the shaft 79 and thence to the movable platform which thus advances beyond the edge of the fixed platform 23 until it covers the sinking platform 24 and is then retracted to its initial position.

The sequence of operations during the rotation of the cam 32 and sleeve 34 i. e. when three rows of articles are positioned on the fixed platform 23, is, therefore, as follows. the cam 32, the link 38 moves downwardly and causes the abutment member 137 to be raised to its upper position, thus lifting the plate 276 to open the outlet end of the fixed platform and rotating the plate 270 in a clockwise direction through approximately 90 deg. to close the inlet end of the fixed platform. Substantially simultaneously with this operation, the sliding platform begins to advance carrying with it the bearing member 176 and the plate 270. As the plate advances it slides the articles of the fixed platform on to the sliding platform by which they are then carried. The sliding platform reaches the limit of its advance after half a revolution of the shaft 33 at which time the cam follower 35 passes on to the rise of the cam 32. The link 38 then moves upwardly against the tension of the spring 39 and the abutment surface 137 is moved to its lower position. This causes the plate 275 to be lowered and the plate 270 to be rotated in an anticlockwise direction to take up the position shown in Fig. 4 thus opening the entry to the fixed platform. As this operation is completed, the sliding platform begins its return movement. In its return movement the sliding platform would carry the articles with it were it not for the fact that the plate 275 has been lowered thereby preventing the return of the articles. Thus as the sliding platform is returned, the articles are deposited on to the sinking platform 24.

The advantage of using the sliding platform is that once the articles have been transferred'thereto from the When the follower 35 entersv the valley of 6 fixed platform, the next row of articles can be fed on to the latter by the ram 22. If a sliding platform only was provided, it would be necessary to wait for the sliding platform to complete its retractive movement before the next row of articles could be transferred thereto by the ram 22.

It will be noted, referring to Fig. 3, that the cam 32 is integral with a sprocket wheel 138 which through the chain 139 and sprocket 230 drives a second cam 231 in a 1:1 ratio with the cam 32. During the last half of the revolution of the cam 32, the cam 231 acts on,

the follower 232 to cause anticlockwise rotation of the arm 233 pivoted at 234. This arm acts through a link 234 on a bell crank lever235, more clearly seen in Fig. I

5. This bell crank lever controls a tripping lever 50 which brings into operation a l revolution clutch 51 which serves to clutch the constantly driven sprocket wheel 52 to the shaft 53. The sprocket wheel 52 is driven from the shaft 143. The 1 revolution of the shaft 53 is transmitted. through bevel gears 54, 55 and spur wheels 56, 57, 58 to the threaded shaft 59 secured in the mounting 150. A threaded nut 247 (Fig. 4) is in engagement with the threaded shaft 59, the nut 247 being secured to a frame 248 which carries the sinking platform 24. This frame as will be clearly seen from Fig. 5 is provided at each edge with a hub 151 mounted on fixed shafts 152 secured between brackets 153, 154 fixed to the machine frame. A mounting plate 155 connected between the brackets 154 carries the mounting for the threaded shaft 59. A chain 156 is connected to each side of the frame 248, the chains passing over sprockets 157. The other end of each chain is connected to a weight 158 arranged to move within a cylinder 159.

The sinking platform comprises a number of vertically arranged slat members 250 (Fig. 5) mounted on the frame 248. A side view of one of the slat members is shown in Fig. 4. The ram for transferring the articles from the sinking platform to the box is also formed of slat members 251 arranged to pass between adjacent slat members 250. Side walls 252 are provided to confine the articles while they are on the sinking platform.

It will thus be seen that the rotation of the threaded shaft 59 by a predetermined amount during one revolution of the shaft 53 serves to lower the frame 248 carrying the slat members 256 by a predetermined amount equivalent to the height of one article. Adjustment of the amount by which the sinking platform is lowered in order to accommodate articles of different height can be effected by altering the ratio of the gears 56, 57 and 53.

The threaded nut 247 (Fig. 4) is movable in a horizontal direction out of engagement with the threaded shaft 59 by the action of a pin 249 controlled by the arm 340. The end of the arm 340 is provided with an extension 341 for engagement by a latch member 342 in a manner to be described later. During the downward movement of'the sinking platform and consequently of the stop pm 343, the latch member falls but does not engage with the projection 341 on the arm 346 since the latter is slightly rotated in a clockwise direction by the downward movement of the pin 249. The arm 340 is mounted on the shaft 344 and is controlled through the link 345 by an arm 346 mounted on the shaft 347, the arm being provided with a cam follower 348 arranged to be engaged by the cam 349. The cam 3 49 together with an arm 440 is integral with a l revolution clutch 4-41 mounted on the shaft 442/ the latter being driven through gearing 443, 444 and 445 from the shaft 143. The shaft 440 is thus continuously rotated. A driving pin 446 is provided on the arm 440 and engages in a slot 447 in a lever 448 pivoted at 449. The upper end of the lever 448 is provided with a boss 540 pivotally secured to brackets'60 (Fig. 6) fixed centrally to a cross member 61. Each end of the latter carries a boss 62 arranged to slide on spinof the machine is facilitated.

avssgne dles- 63" which are mounted on brackets 64 fixed to the: frame" of the machine. The cross member 61 carries the sl'at members 251 (Figs. 4 and 5).

The locking bolt 541 of the clutch 441 is controlled by the trip lever 542- which is operated from the lever 543 through the link 544. The lever 543 is mounted on the shaft 545 and is controlled by the pin 546 when the latter is engaged by the frame 248 in its lowermost position.

It will thus be understood that when a layer of articles is transferred bodily from the fixed platform on to the sinking platform, the latter descends by an amount equal to the height of one article. As shown in Fig. 1, in the particular-embodiment shown the sinking platform is arranged to accommodate six layers which are then transferred bodily to the box. When the sinking platform descends after the sixth layer has been transferred thereto, the frame 248 engages with the pin 546 and the earn 349' and the arm 440 are clutched to the continuously rotated shaft 442 for one revolution. The shaft 442 rotates in an anticlockwise direction and the consequent rotation of the arm 440 causes the lever 448 to' oscillate, the movement towards the left in Fig. 4 serving to advance the cross member 61 and with it the slat members 251, the latter passing between the slat members 250 thus transferring the six layers of articles bodily into the box 14. It should be mentioned that the travel of the slat members 251 is suificient to take them beyond the front faces of the slat members 250. It will be noted that the rise of the cam 349 is in line with the arm 440 and the rise is so shaped that when the slat members 251 have transferred the articles to the box, the cam acts on the follower 348 causing the lever 346 to rotate in an anti-clockwise direction and similarly for the arm 340. The pin 249 is thus moved to the left to withdraw the threaded nut 247 from the threaded shaft 59.- Further by this movement of the arm 340 the latch member 342 engages with the projection 341 so that the arm is held in its left-hand position. The frame 248 is now free and is consequently moved upwardly due to the action of the weights 158 and further this return movement takes place during the return movement of the slat members 251. Hence by con structing the sliding platform and the ram of slat members considerable time is saved and continuous operation When the sinking platform has been returned to the initial position, the pin 343 disengages the latch member 342 from the arm 340 whereupon the pin 249 is returned towards the right under spring action and the nut 247 again engages with the threaded shaft 59 in readiness for the next sequence of operations.

The mechanism for holding the box 14- in position against the lips 25 consists of a fixed non-rotatable spindle 548 on which are fixedly secured two notched bosses 549. Rotatably mounted on the spindle 543 are two bell crank levers having arms 640 and 641, each arm 640 having a further arm 642 pivoted thereto while each arm 641 is connected through alink 643 to a footoperated lever 644 pivoted on the shaft 645. A plate 646 pivoted to each arm 642 presses against the bottom of the box when the latter is in position against the lips 25 and is maintained in this position due to the links 647 and 648, the latter pivoted to the arm 64d at 649, urging a bolt 740 into the notch in the boss 549. When the articles are advanced into the box as far as they will go by the ram 251, the continued pressure from the ram causes the plates 646 to be moved in an anticlockwise direction, thereby removing the bolts from the notched bosses. There is now no support for the bell crank levers and the arms 642 so that these now move in an anti-clockwise direction and fall in the gaps between the rollers 26, 27 and 28, 29 (Fig. 2) of the outlet conveyor thus depositing the filled box open end upwards on the conveyor; This movement causes the foot-operated lever 644 to pivot in an anti-clockwise direction and the mechanism is reset by the operator depressing the lever 644 thus rotating the bell crank levers and arms 642 in a clockwise direction until the bolts again engage the notches in the bosses 549 under spring action.

Provision is also made for interrupting the current supply to the motor if the operator has not placed a container in position by the time the machine is ready to transfer the block of articles from the stacker to the container. This is done by including two mechanicallycontrolled contacts in the circuit of the motor, the contacts being connected in parallel. The circuit is shown in Fig. 9, where terminals and 91 are connected to the current supply. Contacts A are closed when a container is in position and contacts B are opened when the' stacker reaches its lowermost position. During normal operation, therefore, the current supply to the motor is maintained either over contacts A or over contacts B. if, however, for any reason the operator neglects to place a container in position, contacts A are opened and when the stacker reaches its lowermost position contacts B are also opened, the current supply to the motor is opened and the machine stops.

There are many ways in which the contacts can be arranged on the machine and one way is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 4. One of the contacts A is carried by the foot-operated lever 644' while the other is situated on a convenient fixed portion of the machine frame. The contacts are closed when the foot-operated lever is in the operated position i. e. when a container is in position. As regards the contacts B, these are carried by the mounting plate and are opened by the engagement therewith of a pen 649 mounted in the frame 248. The contacts are thus opened when the stacker is in its lowermost position.

A further refinement may also be added to control the drive to the conveyor 20. There is a tendency for the articles to be pressed together too tightly by the operation of the conveyor and this is prevented by making the drive to the conveyor intermittent. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 10, the drive to the conveyor is taken from the motor 144 through two co-axial shafts 1000 and 1001, the shafts being normally coupled together by means of a key clutch 1002. The key 1003 of the clutch is operated to disengage the clutch by means of a slide 1004 which has a reciprocating motion imparted to it, the motion being initiated, for instance, by the operation of the release mechanism 21. The'stroke of the slide is arranged so that the key overshoots the disengaging position and rotates the shaft 1001 through a small angle in a direction opposite to the driving direction. This causes a small reverse movement of the conveyor and serves to relieve the pressure on the articles in position on the platform. The drive from the shaft 1001 is taken from a suitable sprocket Wheel such as'1005.

I claim:

1. A machine for packing articles of parallelepiped shape into containers of similar shape comprising means for feeding the articles to the machine, a receiving platform in the machine for receiving articles from said feeding means including a fixed portion and a slidable portion arranged belows'aid fixed portion, means adjacent said fixed portion of said platform for arranging the articles as they are received into a plurality of adjacent rows forming a horizontal layer, stacking means associated with said platform adapted to receive successive horizontal layers, first transfer means associated with said slidable portion of said platform for transferring said successive layers as they are formed from said fixed portion to said slidable portion and from said slidable portion to said stacking means to form a block, and second transfer means associated with said stacking means for transferring said block bodily into said container.

2. A mac'liinefor' packing articles asclaimed in claim 1,

andmotion-summation means associated with said means for arranging the articles and operative in response to a predetermined number of operations of said arranging means to initiate operation of said first transfer means, said first transfer means including a rotatable flap mounted on said slidable portion of said platform and arranged normally to be out of the path of movement of the articles, the operation of said motion summation means serving to rotate said flap into the path of movement of the articles and to cause the advance of said slidable portion of said platform and hence said flap whereby the articles are transferred from said fixed to said slidable portion of said platform.

3. A machine as claimed in clairn 2, and a second flap being adjacent the front edge of said fixed portion of said platform and arranged normally to be in the path of movement of the articles, said second flap being raised out of the path of movement on the operation of said motionsummation means to allow passage of the articles from said fixed to said slidable portion of said platform.

4. A machine as claimed in claim 3, said slidable portion being arranged for reciprocation to and from a position directly above said stacking means, said second flap 5. A machine as claimed in claim 4, and means for returning said first mentioned flap to its normal position to enable further rows of articles to be advanced over said fixed portion of said platform during the return movement of said slidable portion of said platform.

6. A machine as claimed in claim 5, and first drive means for said first transfer means including a first driving shaft, a first driven wheel and a first clutch operative to engage said first driven wheel with said first driving shaft, said motion summation means being effective to operate said first clutch for one revolution of said first driven wheel.

7. A machine as claimed in claim 6 including. a first cam mounted on said first drive shaft, an abutment surface arranged to engage with said first cam and to be lifted during the first half revolution of said first drive shaft and lowered during the second half revolution thereof, said abutment being operative to control the movement of said first mentioned and second flaps.

8. A machine as claimed in claim 7 including a tooth quadrant, means mounted upon said first drive shaft engaging said quadrant to cause oscillation thereof, and means connecting said slidable portion of said platform and said quadrant whereby said slidable portion of said platform executes an advance and a return movement toward and from said stacking means upon each oscillation of said quadrant.

9. A machine as claimed in claim 8 including means operative to lower said stacking means to an extent equal to the height of one article, a second driven wheel driving said lowering means, a second driving shaft, and a second clutch operative to engage said second driven wheel and said second driving shaft, and a second cam arranged to operate in 1 to 1 ratio with said first cam, said second clutch being responsive to said second cam.

10. A machine for packing articles of parallelepiped shape into containers of similar shape comprising operable means for feeding the articles to the machine, a receiving platform in the machine for receiving articles from said feeding means including a fixed portion and a slidable portion arranged below said fixed portion, means adjacent said platform for arranging the articles as they are received into a plurality of adjacent rows constituting a horizontal layer, stacking means associated with said platform adapted to receive successive horizontal layers, first transfer means associated with said slidable portion of said platform for transferring said successive layers as they and from said slidable portion to said stacking means to form a block, second transfer means associated with said stacking means for transferring said block bodily into said container, and means responsive to interruption of the operation of said article feeding means and operative to reverse the feeding movement of said article feeding means to the smallest extent so as to relieve the pressure of the articles being fed to the machine.

11. A machine as claimed in claim 10, a drive means for said article feeding means including two coaxial shafts, a key clutch normally coupling said coaxial shafts, and a slide member arranged to engage with said key clutch to cause said coaxial shafts to be decoupled, said key clutch over-shooting the disengaging position to cause rotation of said driven shaft through a small angle in the.

of vertically arranged slat members spaced apart by a v predetermined amount, first transfer means associated with said platform for successively transferring horizontal layers as they are formed from said fixed portion to said slidable portion and from said slidable portion to said stacking means, means responsive to the transfer of a layer to said stacking means and operative to move said stacking means downwardly to a predetermined extent whereby successive layers are received by said stacking means in superposed relation to form a block, and second transfer means associated with said stacking means for transferring said block bodily into said container.

l3. Amachine as claimed in claim 12, said second transfer means comprising a plurality of vertically mounted slat members arranged to pass between said slat members forming said stacking device.

14. In a machine for packing articles into containers as claimed in claim 13, means for displacing said stacking 'means comprising a threaded nut and a threaded shaft engaging with each other, a fixed part of the machine being connected by said not and said shaft with said stacking means, and means for periodically rotating said threaded shaft whereby to displace said nut relative to said shaft and thus said stacking means relative to said fixed part of the machine.

15. In a machine for packing articles into containers as claimed in claim 14, transfer means for transferring a block of articles from said stacking means to a container, driving means for operating said transfer means and a tripping device responsive to a predetermined movement of said stacking means and operative to initiate operation of said driving means.

16. In a machine for packing articles into containers as claimed in claim 15, cam means associated with said driving means, a mechanical linkage between said cam means and said threaded nut effective to disengage said threaded nut from said threaded shaft, and counterbalance means held inoperative by the engagement of said threaded nut and said threaded shaft and effective upon disengagement of said threaded nut and threaded shaft to restoresaid stacking means upwardly.

17. In a machine for packing articles into containers as claimed in claim 16 and latch means associated with said mechanical linkage operative to hold said threaded nut out of engagement with said threaded shaft and re sponsive to .completion of the action of said counterbalance means to release and permit re-engagement of said 1 nut and shaft.

(References on following page) 

